In 26 years, Carlos Brito has had several positions at the company until he became the CEO of AB InBev – which has happened recently during the third largest merging in history with the purchase of SAB Miller Brewery. His trajectory is the cover of Exame magazine, which also brings Brito’s lessons as part of FALCONI Movement 2015 .

Since he joined the group of executives at Brahma, in the 1980s, he has become an ambassador of the efficiency culture created by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles. After becoming the CEO of Ambev, in 2004, and having the responsibility of expanding the company abroad, he has had the leading role in the purchase of giants, such as Interbrew, Anheuser-Busch and, more recently, SAB Miller. Today, the group produces one in every three beers sold worldwide, leading the market in several countries.

Known for his ability in reaching targets and for being tireless in the search for results, Brito is the only Brazilian among the 20 best-performing CEOs in the world by Harvard Business Review.

Ownership culture

During the event, Brito highlighted that the success of a company is achieved with professionals who adhere to the value of the owner’s culture.

“We do not like people who think it is good to have a company in their curriculum for three years, then another one and so on and so forth”. Because they have a short-term view – and they do not care about the long term effects. For this reason, the decisions are not as good. They are there to build their curriculum and not to build the company and the dream of the company – and we want the opposite. The owner believes that, if the company grows, he grows with it”, he says.

Leadership is also an essential aspect he emphasizes, something he says he has learned with Professor Falconi.

Professor Falconi said, at the time: ‘Brito, to achieve results, you need a tripod: leadership, business knowledge, and method knowledge’. And as an engineer, I would ask: ‘What is the weight of each of these three things?’ He, also an engineer, would say that leadership is 70% of it. Because for the other parts, it is possible to gather a team with people who complement it: if you do not have method knowledge, you bring in someone who will help you with it. If process knowledge is short, you can train someone. But if there is no leadership, there is no one for an efficient performance, he stated.